Bruce Beck and Ian Eagle Receive Broadcaster of the Year Award

Photo: Jessica Pomponio

Left to right: Ian Eagle, Montclair State Assistant Professor Marc Rosenweig, Bruce Beck, and Dean of Montclair State's College of the Arts, Dan Gurskis.

The new School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University honored two top sportscasters with the Allen B. DuMont Broadcaster of the Year Award. Bruce Beck and Ian Eagle received the award at Montclair State University’s DuMont Television Center on December 5. The two addressed a special master class of Montclair State students and were interviewed for the Television and Digital Media program’s public affairs show Carpe Diem.

Beck and Eagle talked candidly about the impact of social media on sports reporting, both acknowledging it’s the biggest change they’ve seen on the beat over the past five years. Accuracy in reporting is among their biggest concerns.

“The biggest issue is accountability,” said Eagle. “Everything’s immediate and we need to have it now.”

“The principles to abide by are accuracy, credibility and knowing the fact that your reputation will always live on,” said Beck.

Beck and Eagle are long-term stalwarts on the sports scene. Beck is a sportscaster for New York’s WNBC-TV 4, where he has covered major events around the world, including the last five Olympic games. Beck has also worked for NBA-TV, MSG Network and hosted shows on New York Giants football and Rutgers University football.

Eagle joined CBS sports in 1998 and is a play-by-play announcer for NFL football and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. He is also play-by-play announcer for NFL Thursday Night Football on Dial Global Radio and for Brooklyn Nets NBA basketball on the YES Network.

For more than a decade, Beck and Eagle have run the “Bruce Beck and Ian Eagle Sportscasters Camp” each summer at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center on the Montclair State University campus. They have been instrumental in teaching many students who have gone on to broadcasting careers.